DESCRIPTION

The Green Mountain Institute for Environmental Democracy (GMI), in partnership with the Education and Training subcommittee of the National Decentralized Water Resources Capacity Development Project (NDWRCDP) will organize and facilitate two regional workshops in support of the National Decentralized Water Resources Capacity Development Project (NDWRCDP). These two workshops will convene experts working on decentralized wastewater projects and service providers that work with communities to address their wastewater needs. Through these workshops the NDWRCDP hopes to learn what kinds of tools are needed to help assistance providers more effectively communicate wastewater management options such as centrally-managed decentralized systems to communities facing wastewater problems; what existing decentralized wastewater systems tools and risk-communication materials are presently available for water/wastewater issues; how these organizations work to effectively help communities address environmental problems; what factors affect community consideration of decentralized wastewater management options; and what issues influence community decision-making and the decision-making process. In addition, the service providers will learn from ongoing demonstrations and national experts more about decentralized wastewater systems, making them better advocates for the technology. Finally, these meetings are expected to provide the opportunity for attendees to form a stronger network of practitioners in the community-based environmental decision-making field, allowing future work products of the NDWRCDP and other sponsors to be more readily disseminated and incorporated into effective implementation-assistance products.